fiDlEDE by Waterloo

Puzzle explanation

Clue answers and grid entries are given in the table below. As explained in the preamble, different colours were required to distinguish some characters. The upper and lower case requirement was also included to help some overseas solvers interpret the exemplar in the title and to check the solution grid. Some overseas editions of the newspaper do not use colour at present.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer Entry Explanation
Across
1 KABAB kAB (BABE – E) after KA
3 REMEMBER rEMber R(evolve) + E(ngages) + MEMBER
11 IONONE iONe IO + NONE
12 PREREQUISITE pREquisite QUIET REPRISE *
13 ANAN AN (b)ANAN(a)
15 SUDD suD SUDDEN – EN
16 TOO tO TO + OUT – UT (do)
17 TA-TA TA TAT + A
18 COCOA COa TOBACCO * – (T + B (= tuberculosis, consumption))
20 SO-SO SO SO twice
21 EGRESS egreS SERGE < + S(urprising)
22 ASSASSIN ASSin SASS in (AS + IN)
23 DIDICOI DIcoi “I DID” < + COI
25 TÊTE-À-TÊTE TEaTE (A TITTER + A TEEHEE) * – (I HEAR) *
27 BABOONS babOns B + A + BOONS
29 ELL eL ELLINGTON – NOTING *
30 MORRA moRa ARRO(w) < after (tea)M; a dart is “anything that pierces”
34 BILL biL LIB < + L
35 YLANG-YLANG YLANG GANGLAND SLYLY * – LSD <
36 NÉE nE NEE(d)
37 KOMODO DRAGON komODragon RANK GOOD MOOD *
40 SEROON serOn (NOES about (O + R)) <
41 STUFFY stuFy STUFF + (craz)Y. In retrospect, the definition was faulty; leaving aside the semantics, there is no intransitive use of the verb disdain
Down
1 KEEP kEp PEEK <
2 BYE-BYES BYEs BB about YE + YES
3 REQUEST STOP requeSTop REST about QUEST + OP
4 EEK Ek GEEK – G
5 BOOST bOst ’S in BOOT
6 ROOTER rOter ROO(s)TER
7 ANNETTE aNeTe (TEN in ETNA) <; reference meaning of name
8 METASTASIS meTASis MET + A + ST + A + SIS
9 ARAR AR A + RA + (d)R(y)
10 SIMOON simOn (NOKOMIS – (stic)K) <
14 NO-NO NO NOON, O to end
18 COCOTTE COTe CO(ok) + (S)COT(s) + T(enderloin) + E(mploying)
19 ASSAM aSam AS + SAMI – I; reference tea
21 EDDA eDa Hidden
24 COOEE cOE COTONEASTER – (N + START) *
26 EEL-LIKE ELike KILL < in (EE + (tal)E)
27 BALL baL BALLET – (fe)ET
28 BANNAT baNat BANN(s) + AT (in); see Ban
31 TATARS TArs TARTARUS – (R + U (= Rugby Union))
32 IN-OFF inoF OFF after IN; reference billiards & snooker
33 WEENY wEny (t)WEENY
34 BAAS bAs Two meanings; reference sheep
35 YO-YO YO (BOY – B) < twice
38 MOO mO MOOD – D(ementia)
39 DADA DA DAD + A’
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